Police: Macungie couple steal 2 cop cars; wild chase through Philly

March 05, 2013|By Patrick Lester and Pamela Lehman, Of The Morning Call

A Macungie couple who in recent months gained notoriety in a quiet condo community of the borough grabbed an entire region's attention Tuesday when police said they brazenly stole two cruisers and led officers on a "bold, reckless" and apparently drug-fueled chase from Camden, N.J., into Philadelphia.

Once officers caught Blake Bills and fiancée Shayna Sykes, who apparently left their 7-month-old child with a relative during the joy ride, police were at a loss to explain what they could only describe as a "bizarre" incident that miraculously involved no serious injuries.

"It is just a bizarre case," Philadelphia First Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross said at a news conference. "I've never heard of anybody stealing two police cars in the same incident.

"I've never seen anything like this before, and I hope I never see anything like this again."

News of the chase caught on video and aired by media websites throughout the day stunned Macungie residents in the Ridings at Brookside, where Bills and Sykes garneredattention after Bills was charged last year with burglarizing his next-door neighbor's condominium.

Neighbors said the burglary sparked fears in the community of homes that are appraised around $180,000. James and Kim Jacobs said Bills is the reason that many neighbors have installed security systems at their homes since last August.

"I can't believe a new mother would leave her child to break the law," said Kim Jacobs, who lives across the street from the Oxford Circle condominium where Sykes and Bills lived with Sykes' grandmother. "I feel for the grandmother. She's devastated."

It's not clear what Bills and Sykes were doing in Camden and Philadelphia. Ross said both were under the influence of drugs, but wasn't sure what kind.

"Clearly, [drug use] is not hard to believe, given the circumstances," Ross said at the Tuesday afternoon news conference.

He said detectives were still interviewing the couple to determine a motive, but noted, "I don't know if there's any way you can explain that kind of bizarre behavior."

Bills and Sykes were reported missing by Macungie police Monday after the police were contacted by Sykes' grandmother, who told investigators the couple took her Mazda Protégé on Friday and never returned it, said police Chief Edward Harry Jr. Police reported the vehicle stolen on Monday.

Tuesday's events began unfolding around 10 a.m. when Camden police broadcast a report of a pursuit of one of their police cars that had been stolen. The report indicated that an officer had been injured, creating what Ross described as a "volatile" situation.

Investigators say a woman and man stole the Camden police car in front of the police administration building during a traffic stop. A chase followed and the Delaware River Port Authority notified Philadelphia police that the stolen car was headed their way. The New Jersey State Police also joined the pursuit.

When the vehicle stopped, police said, Bills was placed under arrest when Sykes jumped out of the car and into a Philadelphia cruiser. He said officers likely did not turn their cruisers off during the pursuit because police often have to get back inside them if a pursuit continues.

"Who would think a woman is going to come out of that car and get into a police car?" Ross said. "You can Monday morning quarterback that all day long."

Sykes was finally apprehended after police surrounded the Philadelphia police cruiser in the 1100 block of N. Hope Street in the city's Northern Liberties section.

Ross said both will face a host of charges — in both New Jersey and Philadelphia — for crimes including driving under the influence, fleeing and eluding police and risking a catastrophe.

Ross said he was unsure of the injuries suffered by the Camden officer, but noted he had injuries to his "lower extremities."

In the Macungie neighborhood, James Jacobs was describing the tense feeling since Bills' arrest in August 2012. He said he has noticed a lot of "activity" late at night, "stuff we're not used to in this neighborhood."

Kim Jacobs described Sykes and Bills as "pleasant" before the burglary. She said that following Bills' arrest, the couple kept a low profile. Before the burglary, only about two residents had security systems on the block. Now, the Jacobses said, nearly a dozen have had them installed.

Bills admitted that he broke into his neighbor's house while she was away and took jewelry and a computer, items worth a total of about $3,500, court records say. Bills told investigators that he took the computer to a "bad area" of Philadelphia and sold it for $400, according to police, who did not say what he did with the money.